2019 letter from the West Pond Association President
Friends of West Pond 2019,
For the fifth year we hired New England Milfoil Company to conduct an early spring harvest of our invasive Curly Leaf Pond weed.
The divers located two larger patches which brought up the numbers from last year, but they got them removed. The company covered the whole upper end of the pond and harvested all invasives seen. We had hoped they would be able to cover the entire pond in the three week period, but the larger patches prevented it from happening. The West Pond volunteers will be continuing the surveying and harvesting of any remaining plants starting in early June.
The experts had warned us of how the turions that produce Curl Leaf may sit dormant for up to 5 years and this year pretty much proved that to be correct. We had very few floating fragments all of 2018 which spreads the weed, so this year’s beds were most likely caused by the dormant turions.
We are still in excellent shape compared to just a few years ago and are in the fight for the long run.
This fight is extremely costly. If you’re a friend of West Pond and would like to help, please consider making a donation to support future harvest operations.
Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe summer.
Dennis Spinney
President, West Pond Association
